Have you ever had one of those days that started out great and you really felt like you were killing it? That was me today. My day even started with this nice gift from our librarian. Then this happened.... It's like I'm living in a real live metaphor.
I hope you're having a great day! And on the bright side, I salvaged a few kernels! May you always look for the "kernels"! :)
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I never thought I'd live in a world where teachers and school staff were vilified. But, I was wrong. I still don't understand how we can go from being heroes during COVID with parents singing our praises for how hard our jobs are, to being accused of pushing sexuality, CRT and more on kids. It's just not right. And, it's easy to feel defeated and on the defensive. So, I write this blog today to remind myself and all of you that we cannot listen to the noise. It's hard to drown it out, especially when parents are directing some of us that noise at us, but we must remember that we are the ones showing up everyday with the best interest of kids in mind. We are the ones who know about all of the sweet, innocent conversations that happen in our classrooms and we are trusted by our students. When you feel yourself getting frustrated with the noise, I ask you to instead focus on the fun of elementary kids! Look for the JOY, count the skippers, think about the 5 or 10 funny things that happened and remember how lucky we are to spend our days with kids.
This is actually the one place where we can come an escape the crazy that is happening on the outside. A student, let's call him "John", hasn't been coming to school at all. And, when he does, it's at about 11:45am. There are two ways that this can be handled. One way is that we can think his mom is neglectful, assume she doesn't care about school and is a terrible parent. We could say that there's nothing we can do and just BCD about the situation. But the other way, the JW way, is to provide some support and love to the family. (Now, don't get me wrong, some families don't want our help and some are neglectful and don't care about school; but it's not up to us to assume which families are which.) Everyone deserves the JW way. Here's what happened this week when love was an intervention.
A phone call was made to John's mom at about 11:45am to find out where he was. In a stern but loving way some questions were asked of mom like, "What's going on? I'm worried! How can we help?" And, in that moment mom was ready to accept help. She happened to be in the car at the time on the way to school with John. Mom and John were invited into school so we could figure out what was going on. We all knew mom was struggling, she just got out of a shelter in August, she'd escaped domestic violence and addiction. John had experienced all of these things right along with her. When they got to the office we started talking and uncovered that Mom works nights while aunt stays over night so John isn't alone. John is not falling asleep at night and is trying to stay up and get on his phone, play video games and watch tv. Mom is at her wit's end, his aunt is at her wit's end, John is exhausted and it seems as if the family is spiraling out of control. So, with love being an intervention we listened to mom and came up with a plan. The plan is simple-John goes into his room at bedtime and does not get to come back out, mom will wake him up at 8am for school. We explained to John that it is going to be hard for a few days until he gets into a routine which leads me to my favorite part of the plan. We made a "quiet box" for John. We filled it with things like putty, fidgets, a sticker book and the BEST PART is that on the top of the box it says "GET OUT OF BED, WE NEED YOU HERE!" and then all of his teachers signed it. AND GUESS WHAT?!?!? John has been to school on time and well rested for the past two days! Mom is happy, he is happy and love truly is an intervention.
If you've been around JW for a while, you probably know that I LOVE WORDS! And, one of my favorite things to do is choose a ONE WORD for each year. Some years my word ends up changing my life and helping me grow in ways I could never have imagined. Other years, my word ends up being something that I still feel like I have fully reached the potential of. But, no matter what, my words energize me and motivate me throughout the entire year.
If you aren't familiar with the concept of ONE WORD (or even if you are but need a refresher) check out this video. Choosing your ONE WORD is just as important and SHARING your ONE WORD! It's important that we put our words out into the universe and breath life into them! My ONE WORD for the year is: CURIOUS This word starting popping into my life in November. I started saying things like..."I'm curious about..." and "I'm trying to be curious here..." I love the possibility that this word brings to my daily life. Being CURIOUS also forces me to listen more and ask more questions, which are two things that I know will make me better in all aspects of my life. I'm ready to get CURIOUS in 2023. I hope you share your ONE WORDs with me! |
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